FAKE ME HARD — morgan

FAKE ME HARD

Role: Curator
Year: 2021
City: Rotterdam

FAKE ME HARD guided us through a post-truth society. A spectacular hands-on exhibition with installations by over 40 artists exploring the complex reality of the 21st century. Do algorithms decide which (dis)information we get to see? How can we reinvent our imperfect, messy narratives? Can Team Human take over?

Artists:

Artur van Balen
BBB_
Beeple
Boer & Smeenk
Current
Daito Manabe
Deborah Mora
Felix Burger
Frederik de Wilde
Herbert Luciole
J & B

Jelle de Graaf
Jeroen Jongeleen
Joep van Lieshout
Joey Holder
Johan Grimonprez
Jon Rafman
Joris Strijbos
Julie Patard
Liam Young
Lu Yang
Marnix de Nijs

Mary Maggic
Pinar Demirdag
Pinar Yoldas
Rob Voerman
Saint Machine
Tabita Rezaire
Tatsuru Arai
The Yes Men
ViaOral
Viviane Komati
Wermke Leinkauf

Press: Volkskrant, Het Parool, NRC, De Telegraaf, Metropolis M, Glamcult, and more.

FAKE ME HARD focused on a society increasingly defined by algorithmic logic, data extraction and fake news. 40 international artists created the complex world tangible through large-scale installations, performances, games, transforming AVL Mundo in Rotterdam into a place where the impact of technology on our lives is analyzed and turned inside out. The exhibition reflected on how people and technology can co-evolve.

FAKE ME HARD illustrated the temptations and threats to societies that are colonized by big tech. Humans and technology are inextricably linked, but we now have lost control. This leads to insights (were we ever in control?), but also presents us with new challenges. In exchange for convenience, we have all been made into raw material at the service of new masters. We will have to reconstruct our identity, integrity and create room to maneuver in a language of ones and zeros that is no longer our own. Deepfakes and conspiracy theories put us on the wrong track, while the myths and stories we connect with have difficulty surviving.

FAKE ME HARD let us see and experience how the “post-truth” society touches us on a deep and existential level. Rather than an “us” versus “them” discourse on who holds the truth, a deeper concern is growing: the realization that algorithmic logic is slowly but surely undermining our way of making meaning. FAKE ME HARD does not take a stand against technology, but shows how moving with and talking back to artificial intelligence (AI) helps us develop new 21st-century skills. We want to invest not only in making people robot-proof, but also, especially, in making AI and algorithms “human aware.”

In FAKE ME HARD, Team Human showed its colorful diversity, flexibility & resilience.